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Win 2k Admin passwords

I'm very much a beginner to all this, and it's had to happen rather than me wanting to know stuff out of curiosity... Situation is this. We run a Win 2k machine at work, and the fool who used to run the system has vanished, letting us all down very badly, and he didn't tell us the administrator's password. I'm left to try and fix all he's done, but this is a complete pain. We need to get the data that he had stashed away under his user name (as administrator), so a format is out of the question.

Is there a way of doing it?

I've trawled so many sites, and this one looks like it has the best minds in it, and I would really like to enjoy some of my holiday with my family, as so far I've worked every day trying to figure this out.

We do have access as guests to the system, so we at least have access to some things, but it won't even let us create new templates on word.

Is there a way to prevent anyone from re-establishing themselves as the only administrator?

I'd appreciate advice from you guys, as you seem like a very good bunch who know where it's at.

I am going to do some more looking into this but i am sure you have been looking back to see if anyone replyed yet so that is why i am posting this now, so you would know someone is working on it...It seems to me though if you can log into the computer you can put something on there to sniff out the password that the person had set up.... Plus was this guy an admin? because whoever your current admin is should be able to get ahold of the password or he should know a way around this . or maybe this computer is not even networked and that would be why there is all the trouble because there is no logs...I will come up with something for you though..if its gonna help or not..time will soon tell

Violence breeds violence
we need a world court
not a republican with his hands covered in oil and military hardware lecturing us on world security!

ok..i read your post again and i am assuming you are not on a network so logs are out of the question so here are my ideas

1. Take out the hard drive and install in a new box as a slave drive-->this should give you access to the data to either store on that computer or if you have a zip drive or something like that you can put it there.

2. This link goes to Access Data (password recovery) it says that it works for Win NT doesnt say for 2000 but may work...click HERE

of course now that i am looking for them i cant find any good free ones ... plus i am at work so i cant use my workstation to do a search for password sniffer or i will get busted and my dial up is crazy slow

Just do a search on google for password sniffer , password recovery maybe even hacking password... find a program and download....

I hope this helped

Violence breeds violence
we need a world court
not a republican with his hands covered in oil and military hardware lecturing us on world security!

Hi. I can't thank you enough for helping me. We are a very small community organisation, and unfortunately, he was the only administrator. I'm now taking on that role (and learning a lot) but I'm very used to Win 98, and 2K is a new mystery for me to learn. The problem in our game is there are not many of us who are very knowledgeable about computers, there are only about 4 of us working on a day to day basis, one of whom is the guy who hasn't been seen or heard from for about a month now. It IS on a network, if that's any use, but I will try getting another computer with 2K on to install the drive as a slave.

another possiblility...

Yohev,

Sorry, I didn't think of this until now...

Is there anybody in your company that is a member of the administrator's group? If so, then that person should be able to access the ADUC on one of your domain controllers and then change the password for the administrator user.

Did your former administrator create a custom MMC (Microsoft Management Console) for the sole purpose of administrating users and passwords? That is a remote possiblity you should check.

I can't believe that guy left you hanging like that. That's just ignorant.

Windows 2000 creates a "DUMP File" . Im pretty sure thats what its called. You can download a prog that examines the dump file and cracks the password for you. It takes like 10 hours but if you really need it it will be worth it. If anybody out there knows where to download these dump file programs post a reply.
Later

Well, the pace is hotting up thanks to you guys, you have been great so far. I thought I'd update you on what's happened since I last posted.
I'm using one of work's laptop computers, which has Win 2k on. We are mainly a laptop based project, as most of our work is done out in the community. Most of the computers are Win 2k, we have four laptops that are, and one tower which started this off.
Only one of the laptops has someone else with administrators rights on alongside the old administrator, and I can't get that yet, as they went away for the holidays.
I have used the laptop to try all the different tools on, and unfortunately none of them work, L0pht requires me to be a member of the administrators group, and until my other colleague returns from holiday this week, I can't check that one out.
If I was to put the hard drive from the tower into another as a slave, would I be able to see the old administrator's password? I kind of need to be able to find out what it is, so I can get the other laptops working. Also, if L0pht works on the other laptop (my colleagues) will it show me another administrator's password?
I can't thank you all enough for helping me on this!!

Now i remember

Now i remember where i saw the programs for the dump file. It was in a book called Hacking exposed. Now there are two editions of that book im not sure which one its in. Just go to ur library and check both editions of the book out and u'll have the password cracked in no time
Later,